I want to do something special for my little dried up hometown because the only thing its got going for it is my great uncles recreational park and a volunteer fire & Emt service. I want to make a network that can send and receive messages, for free using either a program I built myself or something like yahoo messenger. I have a server at my disposal with tools and limited knowledge of what I am doing, so here's the project: To create a WAN that only works for the purpose of multimedia messaging and that works with a FTP server that can be used to share music, videos and pictures along with other files. So my question to the fellow dollars, Is this possible? and If so what type of hardware would be suitable for this project ???

I wouldn't be worried so much about burstable ram at first.
Consider bandwidth. If you're looking to make a REAL WAN, you're going to need:

Bridges

Relays

Static domain controller(Static IP will do)

Something to tunnel through(What connecting protocol will you use?)

Main node(Server)

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/build-wan-28601.html
This is an outdated guide, but use it as framework.
Ex: Don't use a router, buy a server or have a computer dedicated towards the WAN.
Instead of Ethernet(which would be more efficient), just go wireless.

Well my ram is rather unlimited, And what are relays ? sorta sleep through that class...

>>3 Just use standard switches.

You'll also need town officials to approve of a few things(Highly doubt you'll follow through with this).

Ex: If you're going to go wired and lay down cat5.
Ex: Wireless switches around town.

Or, you can go with a tower similar to HAM.

http://www.wifioutdoor.com/products/wifi-tower-20?utm_source=googlepla&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=CLKYxMuq2bsCFSEV7AodH2cAvA

A tower would be most modern out of running relays throughout your town.

why not just use regular internet? The needed infrastructure should be ready in many places (like restaurants), @home,...
People from some place else might also like to join, so why deny them?

Also consider someone going on vacation - maybe they want to share their stuff with the others.
Then again there's already FaceBook. Instead of making apps (iOS + Android), websites(for those @home) and running servers, a simple facebook group would be more than sufficient to message and share files.
If you really only want people to be able to share files, why not take a look at Dropbox? I am sure, it would be a lot cheaper to get a dropbox account and give permissions via a small homepage(Dropbox-API and some workarounds)

>>6 An intranet WAN would be exclusive.
All of that third party ware and cloud would require other methods to access.
Ex: Downloads.

A WAN would be easily accessible for native application later protocols.
Ex: HTTP and FTP.

>>7 why would you want an expensive exclusive solution which would mean many downsides (see vacation problem)? Who would ever use this (there is facebook - I can even share my stuff with friends and family in other countries!)
Why would the third party stuff need other methods to access downloads? Why would a WAN be _easier_ accessible for the native application's protocols? I do not see your point...

I would rather try something like Google's project to implement internet all around town. Full connectivity in every single street.

This is the same troll that supposedly connected "GA, VA, TN" with CAT-5 cable. Just ignore him and let his threads die.